Darkest Hour
by halfmyheart
Summary: Jason's at the end of his rope. How will he ever be able to cope with a life that no longer seems worth living? Chapter 5 up.
1. The News

Disclaimer: I don't on the Power Rangers but if I did...well, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction...

My first PR fic...please read and review.

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Tommy woke up and looked around his darkened room. Something had disturbed his sleep but he couldn't place what when suddenly an incessant ringing cut through the haze of grogginess. Groaning, he turned over to reach for the phone, the clock on his dresser glowed ominously. Who in the world would be calling at six in the morning, he thought crossly.

"Hello?"

At first there was nothing but silence and Tommy almost hung up, but then he heard something in the background that made his stomach turn a somersault.

"Hello," he said again.

"Tommy," said a trembling voice on the other line, "I'm sorry to wake you so early but…"

He sat straight up in bed now fully alert, "Kat, what's wrong?"

"Tommy, you need to come down to the hospital….it's Jason."

"What?" He asked in negligible disbelief. "What's wrong with him?"

Kat didn't answer for a second or two.

"Kat, are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here. He's been shot Tommy. I…"

"Everything's gonna be ok," he said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. "I'll meet you at the hospital." He hung up the phone and jumped out of bed. Then, he dressed quickly in jeans and a red t-shirt before grabbing his jacket and heading to the front door.

As he made his way to the hospital he felt a sinking feeling growing ominously in the pit of his stomach. Kat had sounded really upset, but Tommy hoped that her worries and his ever increasing fears would be laid to rest once he reached the hospital and found out what had happened to Jason.

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Tommy and Kat sat in the hospital waiting room along with Adam and Billy.

"Where's Rocky," asked Tanya after a moment of tense silence.

"He's on his way," said Billy. "He had some family issues to deal with before he could get free. Don't worry he'll be here."

Tanya shook her head as she resumed counting the ties on the floor. With all the foot traffic in the room she lost count and had to start over again, but not before a pair of shoes that she recognized came running up to where the gang sat.

"Rocky," she said looking up at the new arrival.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Any news?"

He frowned as Billy shook his head no.

"Oh," he whispered. "What happened?"

Billy sighed, "It was a robber. He broke into Jason's apartment complex. Jason heard his elderly neighbored calling for help so he went to check it out. He chased the guy down the stairs. Apparently there was a fight because Jason has all sorts of cuts and scrapes. Anyway, the robber got scared and shot him…" Billy looked around at the stark walls of the hospital, "now we're here."

Rocky nodded and then sat down beside Adam. "Did they catch the guy?"

"No," said Billy shaking his head as a painful silence filled the room.

Finally Kat broke the quiet, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"What?" Asked Tommy.

"This waiting and not knowing."

Tommy put a comforting arm around her shoulders, "don't worry Kat, Jason's a fighter. I know he'll be alright."

Kat shook her head as she fought back the tears that threatened to fall. "I know," she said quietly, resting her head on his shoulder.

After a while the silence became unbearable and Tommy retreated within himself. He didn't know how long he sat there holding Kat before he noticed that another person had was standing in front of him.

"Doctor Wood," said Billy breaking into Tommy's thoughts. "What happened to Jason? How is he?"

Dr. Wood removed his glasses and fixed the teenager with a hard stare, "are you a family member?"

"No, but, please sir, we're his best friends."

The doctor sighed and replaced his glasses. "You friend is very lucky to be alive. His vitals are stable and he is in stable condition, for now. We are going to keep him in the ICU for the time being, but I'm afraid that I have some bad news."

"Whatever it is…."

The doctor nodded before continuing, "The bullet is lodged near his spine and cannot be removed, I'm afraid that you friend will never walk again."

At the doctor's words both Tommy and Kat sat back down. "This cannot be happening," she said softly, placing her head in her hands. Tommy drew her into his arms as the first of many tears began to fall.

"I'm sorry," said the doctor. "He is going to need you, all of you, to be strong for him. He has a difficult road ahead." The doctor reached out and placed a hand on Billy's shoulder, "I'm sorry son."

Then the doctor was gone, leaving the six friends in stunned and fearful silence.


	2. On Death's Doorstep

When he awoke Jason was aware of nothing but the searing pain in his back. He tried to sit up, to escape the pain, but strong hands were placed on his chest and he was forced to lie back down. He struggled but it was no use, whoever it was that was hurting him, was much stronger.

"Mr. Scott! Please we are trying to help you!"

"No, leave me alone," it was all that he could strangle out as the pain intensified. Then there was a sharp prick, followed immediately by a cool, calming sensation.

"Mr. Scott? Mr. Scott?" The voice slowly faded away as the effect of the drug started to take hold of his system, but Jason fought to keep his eyes open, trained upon the blinding lights above him…..but he slipped into the darkness as the lights melted away.

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Tommy stood motionless by the window, a cup of untouched coffee help firmly between his hands in a death grip.

"Tommy," said Kat tugging at his jacket, "it's been over five hours since the surgery, why can't we see him?"

He tried to think of something to say, something that would reassure her and calm her ever-growing fears, but his mind came up blank. Perhaps they were allowing him to rest before being bombarded by visitors, or maybe the doctors were just erring on the side of caution and waiting until he was stable enough to move him to a less intensive ward before allowing visitors…or maybe things were worse than the doctor had initially let on…thought after terrifying thought came unbidden to Tommy, each more bewildering and frightening that the first.

"Tommy?"

He shook his head to clear it of the nightmares forming there and took the vacant seat beside Kat.

"You know doctors Kat; they take their sweet time getting things done. I'm sure that Jase is fine."

A small smile flittered across her pretty features but vanished as quickly as it had appeared, as a dark, unreadable look took its place.

Tommy gave her a smile and a small nudge with his elbow, but she continued to stare blankly at the floor. He looked towards Billy for help, but his friend only shrugged, the look in his eyes understandable: women.

But truth be told, Tommy was beginning to get worried too. The doctor should have at least informed them of any complications or delays that had occurred so that they wouldn't be sitting clueless and worried in the waiting room, but then again, that was what hospitals were best at. Frustrated, Tommy stood and returned to the window. Staring out over the smaller buildings he could make out the airport, and the coliseum beyond that. Funny how all those people were walking around, oblivious that there was a murderous mad man on the loose somewhere down there in the city with them. He could be anyone: the guy standing next to them in the checkout line, behind them in the bank, or even the scary looking man that sits on the subway and stares until you get off. Sighing, Tommy turned around to speak to Kat again but his eyes were drawn to an approaching figure.

"Mr. Oliver? Mr. Cranston?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

"How's Jason," asked Tommy.

"Can we see him," said Kat.

The doctor held up his hands to stop the barrage of questions. "Your friend is critical but stable, and yes, you can see him now. Please follow me, but only two at a time are allowed in the room."

"Right Tommy, you and Kat go first."

Tommy nodded and followed the white clad doctor down the hallway to Jason's room. At the doorway he took a deep, stealing breath to prepare himself for the worst.

The room itself was dark save for the florescent lights that glowed dimly above the bed, and Tommy didn't immediately recognize his friend. Jason's face was a mass of lacerations and bruises with tubes running from him to every conceivable corner of the room. He was almost lost amid the sea of machines that surrounded him.

Kat covered her mouth with her right hand," Oh my God," she whispered, approaching the bed with caution.

"Jason?"

Slowly, painfully, Jason's eyes flickered open.

"Kat? Tommy?"

"We're here buddy," said Tommy coming to stand by Kat.

"Tommy," Jason repeated softly as if every breath cost him dearly.

"What is it Jase?"

Jason reached toward Tommy but quickly dropped his hand in exhaustion. Tommy moved forward, making sure that he didn't trip over any of Jason's vital wires, and leaned over the bed to better hear his friend speak.

"What," he asked again.

"Scared bro….I….don't….wanna…..die…"

"You're gonna be fine Jason. The doctors are going to take real good care of you and you'll be out of here in no time."

"Yeah, Tommy's right Jason, everything is going to be ok," offered Kat with a weak smile.

"Jason," asked Tommy as his friend closed his eyes. "Jase you ok? Jase?" Tommy ran to the door as the monitors and machines started beeping frantically.

"DOCTOR!"

Soon the room was flooded with hospital personnel and Tommy and Kat were shoved violently into the hall. He heard them yelling back and forth, terminology and codes that he didn't know, but there was no mistaking the doctors' last words before the door was slammed in his and Kat's faces.

"NO, DO IT NOW OR WE ARE GOING TO LOSE HIM!"


	3. Is it Worth It?

Sorry that it has been so long since I updated this story. I lost interest in it for a while but I think I'm going to go back and finish it now.

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Jason slowly opened his eyes and instantly regretted it as a blinding bright light flooded through the half open slits. He squeezed them shut tightly and took a deep breath. For a moment he allowed his other senses to take in his surroundings. He heard a steady beeping noise to his right that followed the rhythmic pattern of his heart.

"Jase?" The voice was soft but it grated against Jason ears and made his pounding head ache even more.

"Where am I," he asked after a moment of silence. His voice came out creaky and harsh from lack of use. His throat felt as dry as a desert and it pained him to speak.

"The hospital," said the voice that he now recognized as Kat's. "You had a nasty run in with a robber, remember?"

Jason nodded slightly, realizing that Kat was holding his hand gently in her own, her thumb instinctively rubbing the top of it in a soothing gesture. He pushed past the pain and slowly opened his eyes. The room was bright, too bright. The absurdly white walls seemed to catch every ounce of light and reflect it straight into his burning, watering eyes. He blinked rapidly but the stinging sensation refused to subside.

"Kat," he rasped out. "Can I have some water?"

"Sure." The pretty little Australian stood and walked over to his bedside table. She poured him a small glass of water and tilted his head up so that he could drink it better.

He would have felt like a fool for the water dribbling down his chin if he hadn't been in so much pain, but as it was he didn't really care if she thought he was messy or not. As she removed the glass he lay back and tried to get a feel for what sort of damage had been done to his body. It was then that he realized that he couldn't feel his lower body.

"The doctor will be in shortly to talk to you about…well about where you go from here," she said quietly, pretending to fuss over the water jug in order to avoid meeting his questioning gaze.

Alarms and warning bells immediately went off inside his head at her strange behavior. "What do you mean where I go from here?" He asked quickly.

"Umm…" she brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and started to rearrange the cards and flowers on a nearby shelf. Since when did Kat have a nervous habit of cleaning?

"Kat," he prodded, "what?"

She sighed and turned to face him, though she still refused to look him directly in the eye. "The doctor said that it is probably temporary, but he doesn't know for sure. Only time will tell." She thought of what the doctor had said that he would never walk again, but she decided to soften the blow. No need to upset him more than was necessary right then.

A sinking sensation that started in his stomach slowly reached his heart. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what his friend was talking about, but as much as he dreaded her answer he knew that he had to ask.

"What's only temporary?"

"The bullet, it did a lot of damage to your back and the nerves and things there. They tried but they couldn't get it out, said that it was too dangerous." She paused. "Jason, you're paralyzed."

"You're kidding right," he said as he started to process her horrifying words. "Kat, please, tell me you're kidding!"

Her voice broke slightly and tears started to fall freely over her rosy cheeks. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could tell you that, but I would be lying."

Jason shook his head, "no, this isn't happening," he said, more to himself than to her.

"I'm sorry Jason," she repeated. "So sorry."

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The first few days back at home were hell on earth. Jason had to have someone staying with him at all times because he was confined to a wheelchair. He was attending physical therapy but he refused to stay at the rehab building because his pride wouldn't let him.

"Do you need anything," asked Kat from the kitchen.

Jason shook his head mutely and continued to stare at the television screen without really seeing it. If Kat had asked he wouldn't have been able to tell her what he was watching, but it didn't really matter anymore anyway, nothing did.

"Hey bro, want some company," asked Tommy as he made himself comfy on Jason's couch.

Jason didn't bother to answer him. It didn't matter if he wanted the company or not, Tommy was there and he wasn't likely to leave any time soon.

"Oh, I love that movie," remarked Tommy with a laugh. "Have you seen the new one they came out with?"

"No," said Jason flatly.

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the wall. Maybe if he pretended Tommy wasn't there the man would disappear.

"Well, it's great! I love the part where…"

No such luck. Jason heaved a sigh and unlocked the brakes on his wheelchair. "I'm going to my room," he informed his guests. Over the past few days he had become an expert at navigation the chair around his small apartment, and the fact that his whole living room had been rearranged, while irksome to Jason, helped greatly in his mobility. He maneuvered his way through his bedroom door and let it slam loudly behind him as he rolled over to stare unseeingly out the window. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, looking but not really seeing anything.

His current situation sucked and as far as the doctor was concerned he would be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It was a dim view of his once bright future and one that Jason could not and would not come to terms with. He had tried. He had tried to live his life as a paralyzed person for three weeks and he was miserable. He couldn't envision spending the rest of his life that way.

The depression that had taken hold of him finally took a dark and terrifying turn as he rolled over to his closet and reached for a box at the back. Slowly he went back to the window, gently caressing the lid of the box and screwing up his courage to do the one thing that he had been thinking of doing for a week. It was the one and only escape from a life of pain and misery that he had thought of…but it was also the most drastic.

Gently he opened the lid and let it fall to the floor with a muffled thud on the carpet. Inside the small silver and black object gleamed bright in the light from the midday sun. He took it out and threw the empty box over his shoulder. For a moment he held the gun, turning it this way and that and watching how the sunlight played across the smooth silver surface. He swallowed hard and put the barrel to his left temple with a shaking hand, but he quickly jerked it away. Cold sweat ran down his face and soaked the front of his summer shirt.

This was insane. What the hell was he thinking?!? Suicide was the coward's way out and Jason was not a coward…but then again, said a little voice in the back of his mind. Can you really live like this for the rest of your miserable life?

Jason laid the gun in his lap and returned his gaze to the window; he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and closed his eyes as a thousand different thoughts buzzed around inside of his head. Finally, he made up his mind and picked up the gun again, but making up his mind was one thing. Did he actually have what it took to pull the trigger?

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So, should I continue or let it go back to collecting dust? Just press that pretty little purple button and review. No flames though, they will be laughed at and ignored. :) 


	4. As Darkness Falls

Jason watched the shadows creep across the wall as the last rays of the dying sun faded from the sky, only to be replaced by darkness so intense that he couldn't see the apartment across the street. He sighed in discontentment and fidgeted with the safety lock on the gun. He felt his finger push it to the off position as his hand mechanically raised it to his temple once more.

This was it, no turning back. What was it that all those cartoon characters always said when they were at the end of their ropes and staring the reaper in the eye? Goodbye cruel world…Jason scoffed, if only they knew what it _really_ felt like to be in that position, there was nothing remotely humorous or cute about it.

However, over the past few hours he had come to find that camping out on death's doorstep wasn't nearly as bad as he had initially thought. After all, it was something that he had been doing for years. As a ranger he had constantly avoided deaths cold embrace, sometimes on a day to day basis as he battled countless monsters and flunkies that his enemies threw at him. But even then, when the possibility of death was so close, he hadn't given it much thought. Of course he had been worried about his team, any good leader would, but the possibility of death seemed a remote one at best, something that happened to someone else. But looking back over the years at all the close calls he and his team had he realized something very important that he had missed before. He was more familiar with the Grim Reaper than he cared to be, after all, they had been doing this little dance for years. Now it was finally time to stop fighting the inevitable and welcome the cold embrace that came with the liberating release of life; it was time to dance his last dance with the Reaper.

He could almost feel cold fingers closing around his throat as the crushing darkness waited to reached out and embrace him in a blanket of painless sleep. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his badly shaking hand as he mustered his last ounce of courage to pull the trigger. Almost of its own accord he felt his finger tightening around the sliver of metal that would end all of his pain with one bullet's lethal kiss, but even then a glimmer of doubt remained at the back of his rational mind, screaming for him to stop…

"Jason?" A soft voice from the doorway reached his ears and turned his blood to ice.

He quickly recovered form his initial shock of being discovered and lowered the gun as the owner of the voice reached of the light switch. Blinding white light flooded the room and brought painful tears to his eyes.

"Jason, are you ok," asked Kat softly.

He nodded, hoping that she would go away and leave him in peace. There was no need that she should be present to witness what he was about to do. "I'm fine," he responded, perhaps more coldly than he had intended, and he mentally kicked himself for the way his voice shook.

Kat must have noticed his apprehension because she stepped farther into the room. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said quickly as he felt her walking closer. "Please, just leave me alone."

For a moment she stopped dead in her tracks, taken aback by the anger in his voice. But once she realized that the anger wasn't necessarily directed at her alarms started to go off in her head. She cleared the distance between her and the wheelchair bound Jason in a matter of seconds.

"Oh my God, Jason." Her voice came out as a tiny, frightened, whisper and her hands flew to her mouth in a gesture of disbelief when she spotted the gun lying on his lap. Tears sprung to her eyes and her voice cracked.

"No," she said, "no, no, no, no."

Jason refused to look at her, choosing instead to stare blankly out the window into the darkness. "Just go away."

Kat shook her head wildly, her blond hair flying around her face and mingling with the flying tears. "Jason, what are you doing? This is wrong!"

"You have no idea," said Jason, "I can't live like this. I can't take a shower without help, I can't get dressed without help, I can't…hell, I can't do anything without help!" He felt his anger bubbling to the surface, threatening to explode at any given moment.

"There's another way! Jason, this is not you! Please, just give me the gun and we'll find another way."

Jason snapped. He wrenched his gaze from the window and focused all of his rage on her. "There is **NO** other way," he yelled. "Why can't you see that? I can't live this way._ I_ just can't! I can't live my life in a wheelchair! But I don't expect you, or anyone else to understand. My life is not worth living anymore! I don't want your pity or your sympathy, I want your absence! So just go the hell away and leave me in peace!"

He dropped his head in shame as his anger fizzled out; ashamed for yelling at Kat and ashamed because he felt warm tears sliding over his own cheeks.

Kat crouched down beside him and gently placed one hand on his knee. "Jason…"

He shook his head as the tears flowed freely and he finally admitted what he had been trying to deny for so long. "I don't want to die…and I can't do this on my own." That was the one thing that bothered him the most, being forced to rely on someone else to help him do the simple things that he could no longer do.

Kat placed her other hand on his shoulder, "you don't have to be alone," she said quietly, "You have me." Then as an after thought she added, "And Tommy and Kim."

Jason slowly nodded, his gaze returning to the window as a few bright stars began to break through the darkness to shed pristine light on the sleeping city below. He closed his eyes and wiped at his face with the sleeve of his shirt as Kat's warm hand slipped into his and squeezed it encouragingly.

"You're never alone Jason," she said as she picked up the gun and moved it out of his reach. "You have me. I'll always be here for you. We'll get through this. Together."

He squeezed her hand in returned and forced himself to meet her affectionate gaze. "How?"

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	5. Kat's Solution

A/N: I know it's been forever since I've updated this story, all of may stories actually, so I hope there is still someone out there who is interested in them. College has taken over my life lately and I haven't been able to work on these bigger pieces. There are a few one-shots floating around out there, none posted here, but if your interested check out the link on my profile page or go to community.livejournal.tragicfreedom. Most of them are SPD related, specifically Bridge/Z. But at any rate, I hope someone out there is still reading and enjoying this story.

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This wasn't quite what Jason had in mind when he had agreed to seek help. This was the _last_ thing he had wanted to do and Kat damn well knew it! He hated doctors, every single one of them. But he harbored a special hatred for the kind who sat across from him now. He'd dealt with her kind before, right after his father had passed away, and he had decided then that they were the bottom dwellers of the upper echelon of science. So he kept his eyes on the floor, completely avoiding even looking her way. 

"So Jason, tell me about yourself."

Jason closed his eyes and tried to block out her voice.

_I'm going to kill Kat! He seethed in silence until it became too much to bear._

"Nothing much to tell," he said at last, hoping she'd just shut up and let him go home.

The women before him cleared her throat and scribbled something on her notepad. No such luck.

"Why don't you start with your family," she suggested as she pushed he owl eyed glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "Then we can work forward from there."

Jason shook his head and folded his hands in his lap. Why was everyone always giving him that sympathetic smile? He hated it almost as much as he hated being locked in this stuffy room.

He shrugged. "What about them?" He decided to hedge his bets; better to tell her what she wanted to hear and make his escape than stay locked up in here for the rest of the day.

She took off her glasses and folded her hands in her lap over the yellow note pad already resting there. "Tell me about your mother."

Jason pulled a face and muttered a silent curse. Heaving a sigh he gave the woman a nonchalant shrug. "She's great," he finally admitted, but the note of bitterness in his voice was not lost on the Councilor.

Seeing that she was not going to get anywhere, she decided to take a different approach. Instead of focusing on a single person or event, perhaps it would be easier for him to talk about a much broader, less painful topic. "Tell me about you're childhood then, a – a favorite memory perhaps."

Rolling his eyes, Jason racked his brain for his "favorite" memory. After a few moments of tense silence he finally settled on the happiest memory he could come up with. Just thinking of it brought a smile to his face.

"Alright," he said, clearing his throat and deciding to play along for the time being, "when I was in elementary school I met a girl named Kimberly on the playground. She was all alone by the swings, cutting cartwheels and humming to some song that I can't remember the name to anymore. I was sitting on the seesaw and from the moment she caught my eye I couldn't look away. She was so beautiful," he broke off, reveling in the memory and chuckled slightly as he thought about how carefree and foolish childhood really was. "I was so awestruck by her that before the bell rang I was convinced that she was an angel. The next day I raced back to the seesaw to watch her doing flips in the grass. This went on for a few days before I finally summoned up the courage to got talk to her…and, well, as they say, the rest is history. We instantly became fast friends and she even introduced me to her friend Billy. Before long, the three of us were practically attached at the hip. All through school until she moved away to follow her dreams we did everything together. Of course our little group expanded to include a few others from time to time, but we were the heart of it all."

He was smiling and lost in the past but the sound of irritating scratching brought him crashing back to the present. He glanced over at the woman in the chair and saw that her hand was feverishly flying across the yellow legal pad.

"Please, continue," she said once she laid her pen back down on her lap. "Tell me more about this group of friends."

Jason turned his gaze back to the pattern on the floor, "well, there was the three of us but we were quickly joined by a new student named Trini. Her family had just moved to Angel Grove from LA and she fell into our little group. We were a bunch of misfits, a jock, a gymnast, and a brain, so she fit in perfectly as a smart beauty. After middle school, Zack came along and joined the group. We got along well because we were both really into karate."

He trailed off and his eyes grew distant. "Then Tommy came along. At first we didn't get along, he was an enemy of sorts, but after a brief…misunderstanding, he came around and our little group continued to grow."

The woman was nodding thoughtfully at him, "and where does Kat figure into all of this?"

Jason was silent. He wasn't sure what any of this had to do with his near suicide attempt. What good did it do to reminisce about the past when the future was so bleak?

"Kat?" He repeated dumbly. His brain was reeling with so many memories but at the mention of her name everything else faded away in a haze of gray, leaving nothing but her face shining in his numb mind. He shook his head to clear away the fog and forced himself to focus on the question.

"Kat – she was Tommy's girlfriend when…when I came back from the Peace Conference. After they broke up we, well, we became close. I always felt kinda bad for getting that close to my best friend's ex, even despite his protests that it was perfectly fine, but…well; I guess it just never felt right."

"Why not?"

He shrugged, not really knowing why himself. He supposed that deep down it was because he had just gotten out of a bad relationship and he didn't want to get hurt again, but he knew that that was merely the excuse he used to justify his feelings. The heart of the matter was that he had always liked Kat, long before she and Tommy broke up and that in and of itself felt like a betrayal of their friendship.

Perhaps the therapist guessed his plight for she gave him a knowing smile. "Ah, I believe we have made some progress today."

She glanced at her watch and stood. "I hope that we can make as much progress next session," she said simply.

Jason stared at her in unconcealed confusion. "What? That's it?"

She nodded.

"But—but aren't you supposed to say something deep and revealing before you sent me packing," he asked incredulously, feeling his anger flaring deep inside of him.

Replacing her thick, horn rimmed glasses, she graced him with a rare smile. "I'll tell you a secret young man, and at no extra charge. From what I've heard today, you have some very lovely friends. Friends who want nothing more than to help you. It seems as if they've gone out of their way to help you already, and if you ask me, your behavior as of late is not only destructive, it is also a mockery of your friends."

Something snapped in Jason at her words but she plowed on, oblivious to the cold contempt that had settled in the deep pools of brown.

Her tone became softer and she actually reached out and touched his shoulder. Jason jumped at the gesture and, looking up, felt his gaze lock with hers.

"Don't push them away. They love you and they want their friend back. Your life has changed but who can say if it's changed for the better, but I can tell you it's changed for the good."

She walked away, leaving him alone with his anger and his thoughts. Somewhere in his hazy mind something clicked and her words fell into place. His anger rapidly burnt itself out, leaving behind a smoldering pile of ashes. He felt tired and drained and wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep for a month. He didn't even notice when Kat strolled into the room with a warm smile and wheeled him to the elevator.

His brain was numb, his whole body was numb. Out of everything she had said he could only form one coherent sentence, but it spoke volumes: live for today because yesterday is already gone.

He knew that he had a long, bumpy road ahead of him, but with his friends, and Kat, by his side he knew he could make it.

He found a small smile forming at the corners of his lips because all of a sudden, the future, though still grim, didn't look nearly as bleak.


End file.
